Radom MSBS Coming To US Market

Polish company Radom, maker of Beryl AK-type rifles, was demoing their MSBS rifle on the firing line at Industry Day. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, they were having difficulty finding ammunition that was compatible, and were not allowing folks to shoot either example.

However, they were happy to show me the rifle, talk about its development over the past couple of years, and let me know that Radom is absolutely planning to bring the rifle to the US market. According to the representative, it did well in Polish Army trials (though Army officials let Radom know what sort of improvements they should make, setting off a whole new round of work), and the Polish Army is looking to adopt it. The representative said that first Radom is working to get the Polish Army contract, but that once testing is complete and the rifle is adopted, they will bring it to the US market.

They also talked a bit about the design of the MSBS, and what has changed over the past two years since I saw it last at SHOT 2013. Radom has begun production of polymer lowers, which are compatible with AR-15-style pistol grips (the examples they had with them had machined aluminum lowers), and Radom has dropped development of the magnesium lower variant due to the cost of production; magnesium is highly flammable, which makes machining it very difficult. The representative said they did successfully make magnesium lowered rifles, but that their cost would have ranged between $2,000-$3,000.

Mechanically, the MSBS is very similar to the ACR, but it has a number of features the ACR lacks. The MSBS can be converted into a bullpup, and ejection can be switched through a parts kit from right to left. According to the representative, the bullpup and conventional versions share about 80% of their parts.

Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. In addition to contributing to The Firearm Blog, he runs 196,800 Revolutions Per Minute, a blog devoted to modern small arms design and theory. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.

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Esh325

It looks like a solid rifle. I’m sure the Polish military will adopt it.

sam

It’s pretty… hard to say for sure but looks trimmer than some others like the CZ 805.

Will this also be including the bullpup variant? Of the two, that’s the one that catches my eye. If so, that’s bad news for the Tavor and the RDB, assuming reliability is up to Polish standards.

mig1nc

The bullpup has traditional ejection like the Tavor, so some folks might still prefer a Desert Tech or RDB. I would personally prefer for them to finish making all of the changes from the Polish trials before selling here. I definitely would like to own one at some point. But man, with so many new guns coming out, the dollars are too limited!

It was in 5.56mm. There was a significant language barrier, so I had a difficult time getting any details. The rifles did come all the way from Europe, though.

ColaBox

Now that is a sleek looking rifle. The stock seems a bit odd though. Any info on modifications when brought to market?

FORMOZA

The stock is really well done and comfortable, alot of positions of stock and cheek riser. However there was version with beryl stock, so ill guess it wont be a problem.

Jay

That handguard begs for M-lok cuts.

JSmath

Does Magpul collect on MLOK or did they completely open source its use?

Jay

It’s free, but they licensed M-lok, to make sure everyone making M-lok stuff follows the the specs.

Lance

Dont get you hopes up Obama is looking to ban imports of rifles again. Major European imports may be targets.

Esh325

I haven’t heard that.

FORMOZA

There was some rumors about FB USA so theres hope 🙂

jason

Looks cool, but I’m more interested in the bullpup variant.

Scott P

Leave it to the Poles to finally make what the ACR should have been and will be more than willing to service the American market compared to the Freedom Group.

n0truscotsman

Im curious if this will inherit all of the problems that the ACR had. Or if the poles solved most of them?

Chris22lr

One, rather important, note. The company name is not Radom – Radom is a city in central Poland. Company’s name is Fabryka Broni Lucznik – Archer Arms Factory. It’s a successor to both pre-WWII Arms Factory, and 1945-1999 Archer Mechanical Works. This is THE Polish weapon manufacturer (maker of Vis pistol, Polish Mausers and military AKs), but there are other weapon manufacturers in the city of Radom. One of them is Pioneer Arms who makes coach shotguns and also AK rifles, but their Kalashnikovs are patterned after Romanian weapons. This is actually a little confusing for US customers, and IO Inc, who imports both Archer 5.56 Beryl AKs and Pioneer 7.62 AKs, uses this confusion to mislead their customers (by claiming that both rifles are made by THE Radom factory).

Oh, and BTW: I believe that problems with “compatible ammo” are caused by MSBS’ 1:9 barrel rifling, which is a standard in Europe, as opposed to US 1:7. (Also I wouldn’t have high hopes for .300 Blackout, at least at the release – this cartridge is almost nonexistant here. Your best bet would be to wait for FB to establish their Texas factory)

Vitor Roma

1:9 does 55 and 62 grain just fine. I dont think they were using expensive 77gr ammo in the range.

Thanks for the correction; there were signs for both names at the range.

DIR911911 .

Facebook is opening a factory in Texas ? 🙂

andrey kireev

DO WANT !!!!
It looks Like A rifle that I really want to buy, but I didn’t because it was made by Remington / Bushmaster …. Im genuinely interested in this one as long as it’s priced right (under $2K)! !!!

echelon

If it’s lighter than the ACR and not priced ridiculously then I’m getting one. *If* they ever come stateside. Consider my breath not held…

Adam aka eddie d.

Hurray for the canted charging handle! Nice idea!

Maxpwr

Where will they make the 922r compliant parts to make it legal for import or maybe we’ll just get the bulky pistol version to make it legal?

Leszek

The ammunition problem mentioned was an organizer-induced one: nobody posted a total steel-cored (and according to the ROs, even steel jacketed) ammo ban that was in operation during the Media Day previously, so the ammo stocked at the range (10K rds gree-tipped) could not be used – and there was always at least one Range Officer behind the Polish bay at the Long Range pole barn to make sure the rifles (Radon and Beryl) are not fired. Only about 2:00 PM suitable lead-cored ammo bought in a local store was supplied, and after wasting six hours time, the rifle was finally cleared by the ROs to shoot with. During the two hours left over 3K rds were expended, which shows the potential 🙂 Was it not for the organizer’s lack of clear rules (the pre-shoot distributed brochure listed only AP and tracer ammo as banned), the Radon presentation would be a much greater success.